Dublin displaces Hong Kong in foreign investment index

January 2, 2017

Dublin has been ranked in third place in a list of the top cities in the world for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), displacing Hong Kong to move up one place in the Financial Times' magazine’s “global cities of the future” rankings, coming in behind Singapore and London.

The bi-annual index looks at the success of individual cities and their government in attracting overseas investment. The Irish capital placed third in both the economic potential and business friendliness subcategories as foreign direct investment into the Republic rose by 4% in 2015, a year in which the number of FDI projects into Europe fell by nearly 9% and a wave of Brexit-inspired uncertainty hit London.

Shanghai, New York, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Dubai, Paris and San Francisco round out the top ten cities overall for foreign direct investment. According to the report, Singapore is far and above the best city for FDI globally with 1,907 inward projects reported between 2011 and 2015, the highest number of investments of all locations reviewed.

According to the report, global foreign direct investment has been steadily declining after reaching a high in 2011 when 15,000 projects were recorded. Last year, 12,882 FDI-linked ventures were reported worldwide. China was home to six of the top ten emerging market cities globally.